The invention is in the field of measuring devices in general, measuring devices for measuring angle and/or length measurements in particular, and a method for programming a soft feature key of an electronic device.
Craftsmen such as builders, carpenters, plumbers, and the like take angle and/or length measurements during the course of their work which they then use, for example, for selecting an item in accordance with a measured length, cutting an item to a desired length, and the like. Various measuring devices have been proposed in the art including inter alia U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,035 to Washizuka et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,134 to Okumura, U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,176 to Huang, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,120 to Serenius to facilitate taking angle and/or length measurements.
Electronic devices are typically designed bearing in mind the different needs of different potential end users often resulting in an extensive array of finger depressible feature keys which increases cost, reduces overall reliability due to equipment failure, etc. Two approaches to reduce the number of feature keys of an electronic device include the provision of pre-set dual function feature keys and/or so called soft feature keys each programmable to support a user specified function selected from a number of pre-set functions assignable thereto.
The present invention is directed toward the provision of added functionality to electronic devices in general, measuring devices for taking angle and length measurements in particular, and digital tape measures in even greater particularity.
The first aspect of the present invention is directed toward a tape measure with means for providing a user discernible indication of the orientation of its tape in an extended measuring state relative to a predetermined orientation, for example, the horizontal for facilitating the taking of accurate measurements.
The second aspect of the present invention is directed toward a digital tape measure with means for reading out measurements for facilitating the taking of measurements in circumstances which are not conducive to the taking of measurements, for example, when a tape measure is obscured from view, when ambient light conditions are poor, etc.
The third aspect of the present invention is directed toward a digital tape measure with means for transmitting measurements to a remote device thereby precluding the need for their being written down during the course of their being taken.
The fourth and last aspect of the present invention is directed toward the provision of means for customizing an electronic device having one or more finger depressible soft feature key to a user""s particular requirements by way of downloading user specified functions from a host computer thereby paving the way for user customization of simpler, cheaper, and more reliable electronic devices in terms of the number of soft feature keys.